Education
Cycle-aware skincare: how skin shifts across the month
Hormones move. Your skin moves with them. Here's how to formulate around it.
Skin is a hormonal organ. Across a menstrual cycle, oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone fluctuate in patterns that are surprisingly predictable — and each phase changes how skin behaves at the barrier.
In the follicular phase, oestrogen rises. Skin holds water more efficiently, sebum is balanced, and tolerance to actives is at its highest. This is the window for retinoids, exfoliating acids and anything you have been meaning to reintroduce.
Ovulation and luteal
Around ovulation, skin often looks its best — dewy, calm, resilient. Then progesterone climbs. Sebum production ticks up, pores can look more visible, and inflammation runs closer to the surface. This is the phase where breakouts and sensitivity typically show up together.
The luteal-phase strategy is not to strip. It is to buffer: gentler cleanse, more emphasis on barrier lipids and prebiotics, and pausing anything abrasive for a few days.
The luteal-phase strategy is not to strip. It is to buffer.
How we formulate for it
This is exactly why the HER range is built as layerable monoactives rather than one do-everything cream. In the follicular window, when tolerance is highest, Biolift Serum and the Phyto-Acid Daily Peel Pads do the renewal work. Around ovulation, Glass Skin Milk keeps skin luminous without overload. As progesterone climbs in the luteal phase, we buffer: the Anti Pollution Hydrating Moisturiser for barrier lipids, Empress Facial Oil layered over the top, and the Anti Pollution Clarifying Moisturiser on standby for pre-menstrual breakouts. Dial up, dial down — the same set of products, re-weighted to where your skin is in the month.
